What probably isn’t known is that a man named Johann Bessler claims to have built working perpetual wheels 300 years ago in the Republic of Saxony. Myself, I think there is more than one way and I am close to finishing a build of one of Bessler’s drawings.
With the A.C. Bessler, it is a design that an A.C. Barnes who inspired it.Over the last several years, I have been working through complications from treatment for cancer. With how bad my situation was, wanting to show her this design is what helped to keep me motivated.
It is hard to describe the actual design but the mechanics are fairly simple. When a lever with a weight on it drops, it draws water up from the bottom of the wheel. It uses the same principle as a manual well pump. Only the water won’t pump upward because the wheel rotates instead.
The design that I am building is what’s known as Mt 125. And when 1 or 2 levers drop, a bellow on top expands drawing water into it from the bellow on the bottom. At the moment I have redesigned the bellows and am starting to shape them. It’s that with a black smith type bellow, they leak.
As for the A.C. Bessler, I did let her know that I don’t have the skill necessary to do a good enough build. And the housing for the wheel could probably be turned so that a rectangular tube with rounded corners forms a wheel. Since Bessler was also a clock maker, I would not be surprised if when water moved through the pump that it released the lever. This means the lever would swing down once the pump is primed. And it would be a historical recreation.
If you are not familiar with this type of pumping action, a seal in the pump would let water through to expel air. And because this would move a flapper type valve, it can also release a latch allowing the lever to swing down.
The reason I am mentioning this now is because of the build I have in progress. If it works as I believe it will, then maybe Tommy would consider something like this.